Precious Heart (Silent sacrifices)
by cherub rock
Summary: Prelude to a sorrowful song


Squall pulled the sheets over his head, shutting out the cold outside world. A faint dim light emitted through the sheets. He could feel his warm breath against his tightly clenched fist, that grasped the quilt over his head. His feet were numb with the cold, despite the fact that he was fully dressed.  
  
He felt his body shudder and tremble violently, as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. His dormitory was always his personal santuary, but...  
  
Squall tried to fall asleep, but didn't like what he saw when he closed his eyes. He wasn't wearing his gloves. He remembered wildly tearing them off his hands afterwards. Streaks of red flashed in the blackness of his mind like ribbons.  
  
Suddenly, he heard them. Millions of different voices were whispering together every second, too cluttered to understand what they were saying exactly. It was like nails scratching on board at the back of his mind. He dug his fingers into the back of his head as he forced his eyes shut, curling his body up into a ball, resting his head between his elbows. Everytime he opened his eyes, he saw the shadows flickers in the corners of his eyes. "Stop it.." he found himself utter in a cracked voice.  
  
"Selphie?" She turned around, her soft emerald eyes meeting his. There was a short silence. He watched her as she stood in the second floor corridor, the warm sunlight made her short brown hair glisten, making her apperance all the more innocent and dreamlike. "Hmm?" She gave him a quizzical glance. Tiny particales of dust drifted in the sunlight between them. There was a long silence between them. Two totally differrent people facing each other. One was aloof, silently couragous and deep while the other was happy- go-lucky, energetic and sincere. Suddenly, he saw a hand waving wildly in his face. "Yoo-hoo?" her voice echoed in his mind, "You still there? What's the matter, are you okay?" She tilted her head sideways at him. "Esthar to Squall, come in Squall-" Her childlike manner was sometimes charming, but more than often it became irritable. He brushed her flickering hand away, muttering "Forget it," in a cold tone of voice before turning around and walking away. Shrugging her shoulders, she made her way towards the elavator.  
  
1. Don't Be Afraid  
  
[pic]  
  
The T-Rexaur roared loudly, as each step it took made the earth below their feet tremble violently. Zell calmly placed his fists near his face, sqauring his shoulders, ready for combat. Selphie postioned her nunchuks, grasping the long smooth wooden bars between her fingers before her, while keeping herself balanced over the shaking ground. Squall stood up straight, his clear grey eyes focused on his target, with his gunblade firmly held in between his gloved hands. It stood towering over them, as Squall roughly imagined it's height to be well past ten feet. The creature's eyes had no pupils, they were a cold, colour-less pale white, without any clear sense of emotion. He felt beads of sweat slowly drip down his forehead, and swallowed hard; the air inside the training center was very dense and humid, where this wild tropical vegitation thrived, along with it's many wild, untamed and deadly inhabitants.  
  
Just then, before he could blink, Zell suddenly recieved an in-depth view of huge long and pointy jurrasic incisors snappng viciously in in face. A foul and overwhelmingly powerful stench of stale, dead meat made his eyes sting from the depths of the t-rexaur's throat. Luckily, Zell managed to swiftly dodge the bite attack by almost immediatly jumping over to one side. He was extreamly thankful for all the experiance he earned when battling on the islands closest to Heaven and Hell.  
  
After escaping the deadly attack, fear clutched his insides like cold metallic claw. "Whoa.." he gasped "That t-rexaur is.." "...Fast." Squall continued. "Too fast. It must be well over level one hundred." "What?!" Zell suddenly found himself gasping in disbelief, his jaw nearly dropped with shock. "Y-you serious?? Man... h-h-hey, is that, like, even phisicaly possible?!" Squall remained silent, the t-rexaur's movements and speed all determined roughly what kind of condition it was in. After so many battles, he could almost recionise the monster's state of health by just observing. This was the most strangest case he had seen yet. "I can't believe the t- rexaur can be this powerful.."  
  
"Well then," Selphie suddenly said in a strange tone of voice, "I'm gonna find out." At once, Zell stared at her, his china blue eyes sparkling wildly. "Selphie! Selphie, don't! Stop- It's too powerful!" Deaf to his pleas, her face was an expressionless mask. "Blizzaga!" she called out, as she held up her nunchuks in a disgonal position. Threads of sparkling green and blue magical energy rose up from the ground for a second, as she briefly shut her eyes, focusing her mind. An icy explosion of icicles struck the t-rexaur from the inside, as it's body twisted and writhed in agony. Selphie grinned, pleased at her direct hit. Roaring furiously, it immediatly lashed out at them with a quick swipe from it's long scaly tail.  
  
The last thing Zell remembered seeing was a large crimson line flash before his eyes, and this strange burning feeling that that went down all along one side of his body. "Zell!" Selphie screamed as she painfully watched Zel being viciously whipped by the t-rexaur's tail, with such incrediable force that it threw him up against the hard concrete barrier wall of the training center, as crumbling debris fell on top of him in a cloud of dust, as he lay unconcious in a pile of rubble and dirt. Selphie bit her lip and squinted her eyes. The t-rexaur haf taken it's vengence from her blizzaga attack all out on Zell. A tidal wave of guilt washed over her.  
  
Everything felt "I'm so sorry..." she whispered, as her eye sight became blurred, and her eyes began to sting.  
  
Almost immediatly, Squall saw the t-rexaur heading for Selphie, who was just standing there, motionless. "Selphie! SELPHIE!!" He roared at her until his throat fell hoarse, but she didn't even move a muscle. The t- rexaur began swiftly advancing towards his unaware target, it's crimson scaled skin rippling over powerful muscles, as it's jaws began to open, preparing to in for the kill. Rolling his eyes skyward, annoyed at Selphie's action, Squall held his gunblade in his right hand and placed his other hand over half his face. "Blind!" he cried. Almost immediatly, a dark black cloud slithered it's way around the t-rexaur's eyes. At once, it furiously shook it's head, stumbling from side to side.  
  
"What were you trying to do, get yourself killed?!" A strong hand suddenly grabbed her arm, roughly waking Selphie up from her slight trance. "Now quit blubbering and help me find Zell so we can get the hell out of here." Squall hissed. Hurt and angry with his remark, she yelled back at him. "I was not crying!" she glared at him. dropping her nunchuks, "There was just some dust in my eyes.." She wiped her face roughly with the back of her hand. "As if I could honestly give a damn," he said callously, while furiously digging away through the stones and debris, desperately looking for Zell. "What's wrong with you today?" she chided, quickly removing the heavy stones with her bare hands. "Listen, that's none of your-"  
  
Suddenly, a gloved hand shot through a pile of stones and rock, startling them both. Immediatly Selphie cried "Zell!", scrambling over past stone and rubble. Grabbing his hand, she tried to pull him out, while Squall quickly parted the stones and debris. "In case you were wondering," Squall spoke at last through the awkward silence, "The t-rexaur is blind, so that should give us a little more time." She mutely nodded. "Thanks." she whispered. Shortly afterwards, they hoisted his body up from the pile of rubble. Part of Zell's face was all red and raw, badly gashed from the vicious attack. His once smooth, sallow skin was now scratched and sore. His eyes were closed, and his arm seemed somehow disorientated and out of place. "Zell? Zell, can you hear me?" she spoke as Squall slung Zell's left arm over his shoulder to help his wounded comrade stand.  
  
At once, Zell roared out in pain. She bit her lip, "What's wrong..?! What's the matter with him..!" Squall immediatly let Zell's arm down, followed by her quizzical glance. "Hey, what are you doing-" but Squall cut her short. "Just look at his arm; look at the position it's in. It's broken." Her voice was rasped with shock and horror; "I-I didn't mean to get him injured like this.." Squall assisted Zell in leaning up against the long hard concrete wall that served as a barrier in the training center, before looking her straight in the face. "What exactly are you saying?" he said crossly. "Look," she sighed, " 'Member when I cast blizzaga on the t-rexaur a few minutes ago, and it got really mad?" He nodded. "Straight after that, the t-rexaur hit back with a tail attack which almost KO'd Zell. Don't you get it? I provoked the t-rexaur to attack Zell... I'm sorry." she shifted her weight awkwardly. Squall shook his head and sighed; "Listen, the t- rexaur was gonna attack us anyway, we've fought t-rexaurs in the past before, they don't fight like that. Trust me, it wasn't your fault. This was just a freak incident.."  
  
Just then, there came a familiar voice from behind them. "Hey man, could you get me the number of that bus.." before selphie was flinging her arms around his neck. He grinned, "Haha.. I ain't dead yet- aaahh.. Sephy..?!" He forced a grin despite the fact that he was clearly in agony. Recoiling back immediatly, her face was squinted in awkwardness. "Sorry.." she apologised, "...how's your arm?" Suddenly, a shadow fell over his face as he glanced down. "I.. I don't know.. can't feel a damn thing.." Squall gave him a reassuring pat on the other shoulder. "Don't worry, Dr. Kadowaki will have your arm treated in the infirmary and you'll be fighting the ques for hotdogs again in no time." Zell gave a false grin. "Oh yeah, what happened to that t-rexaur we were fightin'?" he asked, as he slowly managed to stand up on two shakey legs. "Ah.." Squall began his answer, not hiding the slight tone of pride in his voice, "I cast blind on it and-"  
  
"SQUALL- GET BACK!!!"  
  
Almost immediatly, before he could finish his sentence, Selphie suddenly shoved him back, much to his own shock and horror. Small, hard fingers dug into his shoulders, forcing his whole body to buckle backwards. "What the- ?!" Just then, deep within her glittering emerald eyes, he saw the reflection of a familiar creature's jaws about to snap at him from the side, and for the briefest instant, their eyes met. "You should've been paying attention instead of-"  
  
Suddenly, she was thrown past them, down against the ground in a cloud of dust, with it's whip-like tail, as blood trickled down the side of her face from falling against some sharp jagged rocks. Moaning, she tried to get up, but her whole body felt like it had been shattered into a thousand peices. Then she felt the soft ground beneath her start to sink. Desperately, she tried to scramble away, until suddenly, she felt this overwhelming force crushing down on her, pressing hard against her ribs. She could have sworn that they were going to break from the enornous pressure, but there was no real pain, because she was slowly sinking into the mud beneath. Her pulse began to race, trying not to panic as her breathing suddenly quickened. "You really wouldn't want to eat me.." she gasped, "I'm a queen, a goddess even.. with lots of followers.. people worship me.. and, y'know, they'd destroy you if you killed me.."  
  
She cringed; bullshitting to a t-rexaur didn't seem like a successful plan of escape.  
  
Watching from a distance in horror, now dumb with shock, Zell and Squall saw the t-rexaur mercilessly stamp it's foot down on her small body through the mud. They both knew that they couldn't attack it; if that creature was attacked in any way, Selphie might also recieve that attack's casualties, and in her position it was a risk not worth taking. Unable to watch any longer, Zell suddenly ran up towards the now unblind t-rexaur, waving his uninjured arm wildly in the air, shouting at it, doing his best to distract the t-rexaur so that it would lift it's leg up and stop crushing Selphie's body. "Come on!!!" he yelled, hobbling briskly towards it, quickly picking up a stone off the ground and throwing it hard, hitting the t-rexaur sharply on the head. "I said COME ON!!" Almost immediatly, it's eyes were now two white slits, as it turned around and roared loudly in Zell's face, deafening the entire center. He could feel his hair being whipped into the air, and his nose wrinkled at the stale, foul stench of the lizard's breath.  
  
Squall stared after him, until Zell turned around and nodded his head to the side. Looking in the direction that he had indicated, Squall's attention was caught by a pair of nunckuks lying only a few metres away from him. Immediatly, he dashed towards them, scrambling down to pick them up, and threw them towards Selphie.  
  
Stretching out her right arm, she strained her fingers trying to grasp one of the nunchuk's the long wooden poles, egged on with encouraging cries from Zell and Squall. At last, she clutched the bar firmly in her hand, as she managed to attack the t-rexaur, by swinging the other pole up, striking the t-rexaur in the eye. Roaring out in pain, it stumbled backwards, at last releasing it's foot from across her whole torso. Gasping and coughing, she quickly clambered out of the sticky mud and earth. holding her trusty nunchuks under her arm, as she ran towards her two loyal allies.  
  
But she never reached them. A seering pain struck the back of her left leg, as she lost all feeling in her leg. Hitting the ground hard, Selphie, now feeling dizzy, disorientated and and very confused, turned around to see a pair of cold, milky-white pupil-less eyes staring back at her once more. "It's back!" Zell cried. The t-rexaur stood over her now, jaws wide open, drooling with anticipation at it's next meal. At once, the two SeeDs immediatly began casting magic, hitting the t-rexaur with an array of powerful spells, from Firaga to Ultima, as the creature was hit with an explosion of hot fiery flames and high levels of energy. Struggling desperately, Selphie tried to move away on her dead leg, when all of a sudden, an excrutiating pain struck the right-hand side of her torso, like an array of sharp knives and skewers were piercing into her flesh all at once. The pain was unbearable. Biting her lip until she tasted blood, finally she let out a scream in agony.  
  
Even Squall tried to not turn his head away from the brutal scene. From the corner of his eye, he watched his companion blindly running down towards her, stubbornly refusing to let the monster take a friend's life. Despite all their efforts, the t-rexaur had taken a slight chunk out of Selphie in the side, as a pool of blood now began to grow from under her body. Her yellow pinafore was was now pierced all along one side with dark holes from the teeth marks, drenched in vermillion. Not daring to look down at herself, she imagined how bad she must have looked, but refused to even glance so as not to scare herself. She felt no more pain, the bite must have cut some of her nerves, remembering some of her biology exams.. All the training she had to complete successfully before becoming a SeeD.. SeeD. The word had so many meanings to her; her friends, her home..  
  
Was this the thing people went through before death- reviewing her whole life in the blink of an eye.  
  
"Hyne, no!!"" she swore in a small cracked voice, closing her eyes, waiting for death as the t-rexaur began to open it's jaws once again for the final moment. A cold shiver shook her spine. "Then I'm not afraid.."  
  
"Neither am I." Two long, strong arms wrapped themselves around her, as a hand gently let her head rest against his shoulder, both bodies huddled together as the whole training center was drowned in a blinding white light. Suddenly there was a gigantic explosion, as he still shielded her from the powerful force. It felt like an eternity as everything was enveloped in that blinding light. For an instant her heart froze- she thought she really had died. After a few seconds, the training center was back to it's natural light, and Selphie looked up quizzicaly to see who her rescuer was, as a pair of steel grey eyes stared back at her. "Squall?!" she gasped in disbelief, when all of a sudden her sight became hazy and blurred, as she fell into a deep state of unconciousness. 


End file.
